Chronic pain, and in particular neuropathic pain, affects millions of individuals, costs billions of dollars, and is a major cause of morbidity, suffering, and suicide. Although some chronic pain conditions can be treated adequately with existing drugs, a large number of patients fail to achieve adequate pain relief, even with polypharmacy. Furthermore, currently available opioid pain therapies, which are generally only partially effective, are often associated with many side effects that limit their clinical efficacy, including tolerance and addiction.
Current understanding of neuropathic pain mechanisms at the molecular and cellular levels is incomplete. As such, conventionally prescribed analgesic medications are only successful in approximately a third of afflicted patients.
Therefore, new research and therapies are needed to further understand pain mechanisms that can open new avenues for specific and more effective treatments.